Source
r/Homebrewing•
beardedbread

How can I acheive low calcium NEIPA water?

I'm brewing the Trinity brewers Julius clone this weekend. He seems pretty certain the low calcium is what makes treehouse beers so good. This ward lab test seems to back that up with 64 ppm in a finished can of Julius. All of my best NEIPAs have had at least 100 ppm of calcium after gypsum and calcium chloride additions. I'm in Denver so I have a pretty good slate to start with. I adjust my water with Brun' water. This is the closest I can get to his recommended profile.

CalciumMagnesiumSodiumSulfateChlorideBicarbonate
Starting water411026722798
After salts122102610015098

I know I'm not going to be able to achieve the 20 ppm that his recipe calls for, but is there any way to reduce calcium? Are there other forms of salt without the calcium that I could use? Even if I started with RO water I would still be around 81 pp.

EDIT: I had my sulfates and chlorides mixed up. Should be 150 S and 100 C

Posted Aug 2, 2019, 6:34 PM UTC · edited

419
kratoswithcappuccino•

You’re trying to get the sulfate up without increasing calcium too much, right? To accomplish that, I use epsom salt (MgSO4).

4
beardedbreadOP•

Interesting. That seems to get me the closest to 20 ppm. The following was created without any gypsum or calcium chloride. Should I be concerned about 12.3 grams of salt in 10.25 gallons of water?

CalciumMagnesiumSodiumSulfateChlorideBicarbonate
Starting water411026722798
After salts4130731499998
1
kratoswithcappuccino•

I usually use a mix of epsom, gypsum, CaCl and a bit of salt to get to my desired numbers. I don’t usually end up using a lot of salt but my starting water is different of course. I would say as long as you’re confident you’re getting to your desired numbers I wouldn’t worry too much about it

1
pur3str232•

As others have said, use Epsom salt and canning salt, in addition to gypsum and calcium chloride. If you scroll down to the comments you will see he mentioned his additions by weight so you could use that as a starting point.

3
beardedbreadOP•

I see that now. He's getting that built up from RO. While I might experiment with that I want to see how it turns out with filtered tap water. More repeatable that way.

1
Chawoora•

I have only started down the water chemistry path recently myself...maybe 10 batches ago.

I have done a lot of reading on the topic, and I have not really heard any similar advice about keeping your Calcium that low. Under 100 is not a bad target but I would not put too much weight into the recommendations on that page.

I have also been moving away from micro-tweaks to my water to hit all my numbers. I would rather not add Magnesium to a light beer, so I would avoid Epsom Salt. I am leery of adding any Sodium, but my water starts around 50 ppm. I am confused with your edit about what your targets are for, but I would suggest you keep the Sulfate and Chloride ratio the same and reduce the total amounts so that you keep your Calcium at 100 or so (with just adding Calcium Chloride and Calcium Sulfate).

P.S. I thought that most NEIPAs have more Chloride than Sulfate. Sulfate enhances dryness and hop bite, where Chloride give some smooth/roundness to the mouthfeel.

3
machoo02•

Substitute some sodium chloride (i.e. uniodized table salt) for your calcium chloride

2
beardedbreadOP•

I do not see that option in Brun water. Would that just be canning salt?

1
machoo02•

Yes, same thing (NaCl)

6
StiltzkinnBJCP•

Remember iodine is harmful to yeast so better get uniodized.

4
beardedbreadOP•

Noted! I will double check.

1
wickedpissa•

I started using the Brewfather salt calculations. Let's you input starting and Target and what salts you have, and it does the calcs for you.

1
beardedbreadOP•

I see now, What would the max level of Sodium I would want in the beer?

1
machoo02•

Try to keep it under 75 ppm (lower is generally better, unless you're brewing a gose)

2
beardedbreadOP•

With zero calcium chloride, I'm getting this. Based on some searches I think I should be okay. It's not 20 ppm but it will do. Thoughts?

CalciumMagnesiumSodiumSulfateChlorideBicarbonate
Starting water411026722798
After salts74107310015098
1
skeletonmagegate-crasher•

Why not buy RO water from Whole Foods and build up? It's $3.90 for 10 gallons down here in COSprings (saw you mention Denver) and you have more control.

2
beardedbreadOP•

I feel like I am getting close enough with the above adjustments. If I don't like the results I'll try that next time.

1
tajarhina•

Why does nobody mention KCl/K2SO4? Dunno what potassium does to taste, but it is so common everywhere else that it sounds worth a try.

If you are feeling lucky, you could even try with the free acids (sulphuric/hydrochloric acid). That brings in no new cations at all, though you have to triple-check your pH values! (Bicarbonate can come to a rescue here.)

2
I_COULD_say•

Start with RO water and build up from there.

1